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SPEECH 



HON. EDWARDS PIERREPONT, 



DELIVERED BEFORE 



The Kepublioan Mass Meeting, at Cooper Institute, 



September 25, 1872. 



N E W Y It K : 
Evening Post Steam PasbfiES, 41 Nassau Street, corner Libert*. 

187'2. 



EL 



* 

NO 

s 

Fellow Citizens : — I have uot come to defend Gen. ( rrant. 
I point you to the record he has made, which is eternal ; in the 
blaze of whose increasing splendor fonl slanders will shrivel as 
a scroll, and base levilers perish as stubble. 

Nor have I come to defame Horace Greeley. The good 
which he has done will live alter him ; the evil — let it be in- 
terred with his old clothes and his vain and foolish aspirations 
for the presidency. 

I have come to talk with you on public affairs, that we may 
reason together, and see what is, on the whole, best in this 
epoch of our history. 

A great nation, about to commit its destinies for years to the 
guidance of one man, will pause and consider well before it 
casts its vote. 

When the deed is done, regrets, however deep and sincere, 
will not avail. Let us look fairly at this question of the candi- 
dates, and s« e which, under all the circumstances, ought to re- 
ceive your suffrage. 

A few months ago Horace Greeley published to the world 
his views of the Democratic Party in these words : 

i( It is rebel at the core to-day — hardly able to reconcile the 
defeats of Lee, Johnston, Bragg, Hood and Price, and the con- 
sequent downfall of its beloved Confederacy, with its traditional 
faith in Divine Providence. It would hail the election of a 
Dtmocratic President in 1872 as a virtual reversal of the Ap- 
pomattox surrender. It would come into power with the hate, 
the chagrin, the wrath, the modification of ten bitter years to 
impel and guide its steps. It would devote itself to taking off or 
reducing tax after tax, until the Treasury was deprived of the 
means of paying interest on the national debt, and would hail 
the tidings of national bankruptcy with unalloyed gladness and 
unconcealed exultation. Whatever chastisement maybe de- 
served for our national sins, we must hope that this disgrace 
and humiliation will be spared us." 

Mr. Greeley has uttered many brave words in the cause of 
truth, but none more true than these. 



A northern doughface, slopping over with the lukewarm milk 
of human kindness, may believe that the late rebels are sorry, 
repentant and honestly accept the situation with intent to 
abide by it. But no man with an intellect above good-natured 
idiocy, at all informed of the past conduct and present senti- 
ment of the late Confederal -. ran doubt that they mean to 
gain by intrigue what they lost by war; that to a man they 
are sorry that they failed in their wicked plot to subvert the 
Government, and that they would to-day dig a deeper chasm 
and till it full with blood, i! they did not tear that brave patriots 
from the North, seizing their old guns, would row over it. 

Fellow- citizens, let me read a page of our past history. As 
early as 1818 the South proposed to allow the Territory of 
Missouri to become a State. The North opposed this propo- 
sition unless slavery were excluded. Maine was not then ad- 
mitted to the Union, and the advocates of slavery were deter- 
mined that Maine should not be admitted without slavery un- 
less Missouri was at the same time admitted with it. In 1820 
a compromise was effected, and the bill which allowed Mis- 
souri to come iu with slavery provided that human bondage 
should forever then after be excluded from all territory north 
of the parallel 36° 30', which was the southern boundary of Mis- 
souri. This solemn compact, which the trusting North be- 
lieved to be "forever," as it expressly promised, was trampled 
down in 1854, at the behest of the South, and then, for the first 
time, the North awoke to the fact that slaveholders kept no 
faith, but, corrupting one Northern man after another, by 
seductive promises of the Presidency, they grew emboldened 
and threw off disguises, violated every pledge, and trampled 
down justice and humanity, with shameless perfidy, repealed 
the sacred compact, and set up the hellish fiend of slavery to 
be a worshiped god throughout this laud of freedom ! 

But that was not enough. Tin- worshipers of this demon 
saw that martyr-fires were burniug in the North, and that from 
their ashes dangerous converts to freedom were springing fast, 
and the devotees of the "peculiar institution" plotted the 
overthrow of our government to preserve this great abomina- 
tion. Democratic Conventions, tic Peace; Congress, Union- 
savin- speeches of timid old politicians, the prostration of 



Northern divines, citing texts from Holy Writ, and trying with 
Heaven's livery to conceal their devil-worship, were all of no 
avail. The Union must be rent, the old flag insulted, and war, 
with its unnumbered woes, must come. You know the rest. 
Weeks, months and years passed on in war. Save to the eye 
of faith and to the heart trusting in a righteous God, success 
seemed doubtful. Mr. Greeley wanted to let the rebels go ; 
and now, in turn, the rebels want to make Mr. Greeley Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

In those dark days, when our generals, one after another, 
failed, there was one who di<l not fail. He took the sword of 
Lee, and the accursed rebellion writhed over and seemed to 
die. There is some life yet in its rotting remains, and it will 
show lively signs if Mr. Greeley is elected. And hence you see 
why the late Governor of Virginia, in his speech the other day, 
exclaimed, " Give me Jew or Gentile, dog or devil, I care not 
which, so we beat Grant." 

Yes, anything to beat Gen. Grant ; traduce him, vilify him, 
put him out of the w r ay. They know full well that while Gen. 
Grant is at the head, the amendments to the Constitution and 
the Reconstruction laws will be respected. With keenest in- 
stinct, they preceive that Grant, with his dogged obstinacy, his 
iron will and his immovable courage, is the deadliest foe to any 
violation of the nation's rights as settled by the war. 

Are these right $ in any danger by the election of the seces- 
sion candidate? 

Let us see. The foremost of the Greeley men, the late 
Democratic candidate for Vice-President, the present Seaator 
from Missouri, the fearless, outspoken Frank Blair, who scorns 
to conceal his real sentiments, declares that he stands by his 
Roadhead letter, which says : 

" We must have a President who will execute the will of the 
people by trampling into du-4 the usurpations of Congress known 
as the Reconstruction acts." 

And the Caucasian, a journal of Blair's own State, gives its 
platform thus : 

" State sovereignty, white supremacy, and kepudiatton! This 
is liberty ! 



6 

"Our platform : The Constitution of 1800, and the rights of the 
States' 

" Down with the Fifteenth Amendment! 

" Direct taxation and the rightful representation of all the 
States, or another rebellion!" 

On the 26th of May last, Jefferson Davis, addressing the 
people of Georgia, at Augusta, said : 

" It is not a tribute to me individually, but because you feel 
that I am one of yourselves that you come to do me honor. You 
know me only as the representative of your cause. That cause is 
dear to me — more precious even thou life [applause], and I glory 
in its remembrance. My simplest words may work you harm. 
If I say, v Good night, my friends, go to your homes,' and a 
Congressional investigating committee happened to be within 
hearing, its members would swear that I directed you to go off 
and join the Ku-Klux. [Laughter and applause.] Filled with 
thai /ealousy which springs from the knowledge of their inferiority, 
and o) thi justice of your pretensions, and conscious of broken 
covenants and a violated constitution, they mistrust every move- 
ment, and tremble with tear when they think that right may 
again prevail." 

Two days later he addressed the people of Atlanta as 
follows : 

" I am not of those who accept the situation. I accept 
nothing." 

" These cant ] >h rases that we hear so much about of ' accept- 
ing the situation,' and about our rights having been submitted 
to the ' arbitrament of the sword,' are but the excuses of cow- 
ards. And, then, my friends, about the much talked of subject 
of ' accepting the situation.' You are not called upon to 
acknowledge that you have done wrong unless you feel it. I 
don't believe I did any wrong, and, therefore, I don't acknow- 
ledge it, Wait patiently until the tide turns — as sooner or 
later turn it will — and the day is not far distant when the sun 
will shine upon you a free, independent and sovereign State." 

With utterances like this the Southern journals literally 

abound. 

But we have fresher expressions upon this subject. I read 
from the World's reports of Mr. Greeley's speech made at 
Pittsburg, last Thursday. He says : 

" I was one of those who said, 'No, there is no such alterna- 



tive ; I deny that the Southern people, the great majority of 
them, arc against the Union. I demand that there shall be a 
fair, open, free discussion before all that Southern people, of 
an honest, unterrified, unconstrained vote, and if they approve, 
if the people of the South say they want disunion, I will con- 
sent to it. [Cheers. ) I know they will not.' I knew that the 
Southern people, that the great majority, must have voted 
as they actually did that winter, not for secession but for cling- 
ing to the Union. [Cheers.] And now, to-day, if the nation 
was to be imperilled, and there were just two modes of saving 
it — to trust to the chances of civil war, or to the chances of a 
free vote of the Southern people - I would very greatly prefer 
to take the latter chance rather than the former." 

A few days before this speesh was made there was a con- 
vention of the soldiers and sailors of the war at Pittsburg. In 
the Evening Post and New York Times of the 16th inst. you 
will find the following : 

" Baltimore, Sept. 15. — The rebellious spirit which ani- 
mated the people of this city during the late war, and which 
was exhibited in positive acts of violence whenever they could 
be indulged in with impunity, was shown this evening to be as 
strong as ever. The Washington veterans, in passing through 
the city on the way to Pittsburg to the Soldiers' and Sailors' 
Convention, were attacked, at 7 o'clock, by ruffians concealed 
behind railway cars, at the Calvert street depot. 

" The scenes of 1861 were repeated in their main features, 
and one soldier was seriously injured, having been struck by a 
brick, which smashed his face in a shocking manner." 

The Massachusetts Sixth met with the same reception in 
1861. 

Mr. Greeley says "let us shake hands over the bloody 
bodies. " " It is all wrong for the North to keep up these 
feelings." ' 

In the same speech Mr. Greeley gives his views about the 
soldiers and sailors who convened at Pittsburg, thus : 

" The party that meets here and shouts for Grant and Wil- 
son : No other party requires that any human being should 
stand proscribed on our soil for a rebellion that ceased seven 
and a half years ago. No party, no man of any party but this, 
the very party that held a great military parade this week in 
order to further separate and divide the hearts of the Ameri- 
can people from each other. [Cheers.] They hold essential 



8 

to their triumph that hatred should continue ; that distress, 
suspicion, and alienation should continue. Do what you will, 
do what you may, the}- are determined not to be satisfied." 

U<>\\ unreasonable these northern soldiers are, not "to be 
satisfied" with being murdered on their way to save the capital 
from traitors, and with having their " faces smashed in" on 
tluir way to meet their brave comrades who had survived the 
war. 

Mr. Greeley says these men are all of the " Grant and Wilson 
I 'aity ;" so they are ; and if he will take an elevation where he 
can look over into the 5th of November next, he will see an 
interminable throng — some with armless sleeves, some with 
artificial legs, some pale from the sufferings of the war, leaning 
on their old fathers for support, some with the port of health 
and military mien, some with the sailor's swing — all moving 
on, with no arms in their hands, but little paper billets in their 
stead. That, Mr. Greeley, is what you called at Pittsburg 
" the military parade, the Grant and Wilson Party." Includ- 
ing their kindred and their grateful countrymen, a formidable 
array ! You are right, they are for Grant and Wilson ; shame 
sits forever upon the soldier who votes for Horace Greeley ! 

Why did the Democratic Party nominate Mr. Greeley? On 
what bargain was it done ? Just before this unnatural alliance 
was made public, the World, the ablest journal in the Demo- 
cratic ranks, said : Mr. Greeley's sole hope of an election de- 
pends upon his receiving the unanimous support of the 
Democratic Party. * * * If he is nominated by 
the Democratic Convention and elected by Democratic votes, 
he cannot ignore the Democratc Party in organizing his 
administration. * * * If Democratis are to vote for 
Mr. Greeley, it must be under such circumstances that he 
will be compelled to acknowledge his obligations to the party, 
and will make him dependent on it for the success of his ad- 
ministration." The circumstances were all arranged to mutual 
satisfaction, and Horace Greeley received the unanimous nom- 
ination of that party which he had lately pronounced so ut- 
terly disloyal and rebel at the core. 

We know where we stand. We have two great parties in 
the held : The old Bourbon Democratic Party, with its an- 



cient bigotries, it secession sympathies, its rebel supporters; 
" with the hate, the chagrin, the wrath, the mortification of 
ten bitter years to impel and guide its steps." On the other 
hand, we have the Republican Party ; with no hate or chagrin 
or wrath, but with a record of more than ten years of patriotic 
devotion and glorious deeds of imperishable renown. 

Past experience proves that the Southern politicians never 
mistook their man ; they never accepted a Northern President 
unless sure of his Southern .principles, and they have not 
changed ; they do no even pretend to have changed ; they 
boldly say that the advocate of secession and the bailer of Jeff. 
Davis is reliable, and that he will surely see that they are paid 
for their liberated slaves — the four hundred million which he 
once proposed. Everywhere throughout the South, you shall 
hear that they expect to be paid for their human chattels, if 
Mr. Greeley is elected. Let us see what Gov. Aiken, the great 
slave-holder of South Carolina, said upon this subject. I read 
from the speech of Senator Morton, delivered in this hall a tew 
mouths since : " I met a very distinguished Southern gentlemen 
at "West Point, last summer — a man that you all know by rep- 
utation ; and I will give you his name, because it was not said 
in confidence to me, but was said in the presence of others ; 
one of the noblest and purest men of the South, and a loyal 
man throughout the war, and of the largest slave-holders 
throughout the South — Gov. Aiken, of South Carolina. He 
believed slavery to have been unlawfully abolished, and he 
said : ' I have made out an inventory of my slaves and laid it 
aside, because I believe that a sense of returning justice will 
yet compel this nation to pay for the slaves.' And so far as I 
know, this has been done by almost the entire body of the 
former slave-owners of the Southern States. When the Demo- 
cratic party comes into power, they will come forward with 
that claim, and they will say to the Democracy, and say truly : 
'You are committed in favor of paying us for our slaves.' ' 

But some one says that the Fourteenth Amendmeut to the 
Constitution forbids such payment. So it does ; but the Four- 
teenth Amendment will go where the Missouri Compromise 
went, and be " trampled in the dust " with the other reconstruc- 
tion measures, if Mr. Greelev is elected. 



10 

Yon will then see troubled times in our financial affairs, and 
general distrust. Four hundred million is a large corruption 
hind, and the Fourteenth Amendment would be as a spider's 
web. Remember the Missouri Compromise. 

Gen. Grant or Horace Greeley in the Presidency ! A 
momentous trust ! A nation's prosperity hangs upon this 
issue. We have tried Gen. Grant ; Mr. Greeley we have not 
tried. Grant holds aloft the Republican banner — its inscrip- 
tions you have all read. 

Greeley holds up the Democratic standard ; to it is tied the 
rebel flag — yes, and Horace Greeley bears it ! and if elected, 
its folds will cover over his face, and blind his eyes, and his 
masters, hating and despising him, will tie him with fetters of 
brass, and take him down to Washington, and make him grind 
in their prison-house. He cannot help it. Even the strongest 
man is not so strong as the party which elects him. 

Senator Sumner says in his letter : " Horace Greeley stood 
forth a Reformer and Abolitionist ; President Grant enlisted as 
a Pro-slavery Democrat, and at the election of Buchanan, for- 
tified by his vote all the pretensions of slavery." 

Well, what if we concede all that? Is Gen. Grant now the 
l<'ss an earnest Republican ? If Judas, an original disciple, 
had reproached St. Paul with having been once a persecutor of 
the Church, that w r ould not have helped Judas or hurt St. 
Paul. 

There happens to be another man on your ticket whom Mr. 
Sumner would call a pro-slavery Democrat, voting for Bu- 
chanan. He not only voted for Buchanan, but was in Bu- 
chanan's Cabinet. He is the same man who, while there as 
Secretary of the Treasury, gave the memorable order : " If any 
man attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on 
the spot." 

I )< m't you think the old flag will be safe in the hands of Gen. 
Dix V And when he is Governor, do you think the thieves will 
dare break into the public, treasury and steal? 

Gen. Dix has held some place of trust from the time he was 
eighteen years <>ld. He has discharged the duties of all these 
offices with ability, fidelity, untarnished and unsuspected 
virtue. 



11 

Your city, your county and your State have long been plun- 
dered. Even your Reform Legislature could not alone pro- 
tect us, and the people call Gen. Dix to the rescue. And here 
the tried old faithful veteran comes. The people know that they 
can trust Mm, and the great swelling wave will lift this honest 
man to the highest office in the State — the last, just, crowning 
reward of an honest life. 

But there was another "Pro-slavery Democrat" in Mr. Bu- 
chanan's Cabinet, who, when he found that slave-holders were 
enemies of the Union, turned like a lion in his lair, and with 
energy unparalleled, with indignation unmatched, and with a 
directness and devotion which could not be surpassed, took the 
side of liberty, and by night and by day, gave his great mind, 
and his very life, in its noblest prime, to save his country ; and 
when the lightning wires told that Edwin M. Stanton had been 
called to his great reward, did Charles Sumner reproachfully 
say : " He was a Pro-slavery Democrat, and in the election of 
Buchanan fortified, by his vote, all the pretensions of 
slavery." 

Mr. Sumner also delivered an elaborate oration in the Senate 
of the United States, with intent to degrade the President in the 
eyes of the civilized world ; carefully revised and printed be- 
fore it was pronounced ; part of the material used was a dead 
man's* words, claimed to have been' whispered in the confidence- 
chamber of the dying Secretary. I forbear considering at length 
the propriety of ever repeating such conversations for any pur- 
pose, and especially for the purpose of defaming the Chief Magis- 
trate of your country, with whom you have disagreed. But I 
cannot waive considering the probable truth of the statement 
which Mr. Sumner makes. 

He says that Mr. Stanton, just before he died, told him this : 

" ' I know General Grant better than any other person in the 
country can know him. It was my duty to study him, and I 
did so night and day — when I saw him and when I did not see 
him — and now I tell you what I know : he cannot govern this 
country.' The intensity of his manner and the positiveness of 
his judgment surprised me ; for though I was aware that the 
late Secretary of War did not place the President very high in 
general capacity, I was not prepared for a judgment so strongly 
couched. At last, after some delay, occupied in meditating his 
2 



12 

remarkable words, I observed, ' What you say is very broad.' 
'It is as true as it is broad,' lie replied promptly. I added, 
' You are tardy ; you tell this late ; why did you not say it be- 
fore his nomination?' He answered that he was not consulted 
about the nomination, and had no opportunity of expressing his 
opinion upon it, besides being much occupied at the time by 
his duties as Secretary of War and his contest with the Presi- 
dent. I followed by saying, ' But you took part in the Presi- 
dential election, and made a succession of speeches for him 
in Ohio and Pennsylvania.' ' I spoke,' said he, ' but I never 
introduced the name of Gen. Grant. I spoke for the Repub- 
lican Party and the Republican cause.' This was the last time 
I saw Mr. Stanton. A few days later I followed him to the 
grave where he now rests." 

I have before me the speeches to which Mr. Sumner alludes, 
and I find the name of Gen. Grant mentioned twenty-one times 
in a single speech, and in each of them that name is spoken 
with the greatest respect. In his speech at Philadelphia oc- 
curs the following ; 

'• In Grant we behold the leader of our armies in the path of 
victory. In Grant we behold the great General, who, under 
Divine Providence, led our armies, supported, as they were, by 
some of these who are before you to-night. * * * * 

" The mistakes mentioned are, Seymour says, ' the mistakes 
of the Republican Party.' " What, then, has Gen. Grant got to 
do with them? [Cheers for Grant.] While Congress 'may 
have made mistakes, if you please, without number — day by 
day made mistakes — Grant was before the enemy's face right- 
ing him ; he was taking no surrender, except that it was ' Un- 
conditional ! ' No terms left his lips but ' Unconditional sur- 
render ' of the enemy of his country." 

I might detain you long with extracts of similar tone ; but 
these suffice to show how inaccurate was Mr. Sumner where 
absolute verity was so easy to be obtained. The other part of 
the statement depends upon Mr. Sumner's memory of words 
from lips which speak no more; that kind of evidence, in 
courts of justice, is received with exceeding caution, and, if 
inconsistent with established facts, it is not believed at all. 

It is known to some of you that for many years I was very 
intimate with the great Secretary, and was one of the friends 
who bore him to his grave. I saw him often during his last 
illness, and have; a large number of letters from him, several of 



13 

which relate to Gen. Grant, and one to Gen. Dix ; their testi- 
mony will be more convincing than uncertain words repeated 
long after their alleged utterance, and by one whose mind and 
imagination had grown morbid and diseased by brooding over 
grievances of a personal kind. 

His letter about Gen. Dix, alike honorable to Mr. Stanton 
and just to Gen. Dix, I will read first : 

Washington, April 1G, 18G2. 

Hon. Edwards Pieurepont: 

My Dear Sir — This morning my son called my attention to 
a paragraph in the New York L°A r jer of Saturday, April 5, on 
page 4, ascribing to me the authorship of Gen. Dix's telegram 
to New Orleans, and saying that it has high authority that I 
wrote it. Will you be so good as to call on Mr. Bonner and 
inform him, from me, that I did not write that order, that its 
author was Gen. Dix, and request him to correct the Ledger's 
mistake, in order that credit may be given to whom it justly 
belongs. 

The correction might be made in some such way as the fol- 
lowing : " We are requested to state, on the authority of Mr. 
Stanton, that the famous telegram sent by Gen. Dix to a naval 
officer in New Orleans in these words — 'The first man that at- 
tempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot!' — 
was written by Gen. Dix — that the credit of that order belongs 
to Gen. Dix, and not to Mr. Stanton." 

You may perhaps suppose the correction of this mistake is 
a small matter, and not worthy of attention in times like 
these. 

But that order was a historic fact of much significance in a 
very dark hour. I admired it at the time it was made ; would 
be proud of it if it belonged to me ; and desire to see its merit 
acknowledged and awarded to him who alone is entitled to it 
— Gen. Dix. How it could ever be ascribed to me I cannot 
conceive, and would be glad if you would ask Mr. Bonuer 
upon wdiose authority the statement was made, in order that 
the erroneous impression may be corrected to its fullest extent. 

Yours truly, 

EDWIN M. STANTON. 

Soon after the November election, he wrote as follows : 



14 

Washington, Nov. 13, 1868. 
Hon. Edwards Piereepont : 

My Dear Sir— Your letter reached me here on my return 
home from Baltimore, where I had been making a visit for rest 
and change of air. For your hind appreciation of my political 
exertions, made under much debility and suffering, please ac- 
cept my thanks. * * ' :: ' During my absence, Gen. Grant 
returned home ; but, confined to my house, I have not seen 
him. Divine Providence seems to have furnished us with a fit 
President as well as a great General. 

On the 1st of December, 18G8, he wrote again, expressing 
the like confidence. 

It will be remembered that the date of this conversation, as 
fixed by Mr. Sumner, was after the President had called in 
person upon Mr. Stanton, and tendered him the office of Judge 
of the Supreme Court, which Mr. Stanton accepted, and about 
which he had often spoken in warm eulogy of Gen. Grant. 
May we not safely conclude that Mr. Sumner's wearied brain 
needs rest ? 

We will consider the fitness of Gen. Grant and Horace 
Greeley for the great office. I know them both pretty well ; I 
shall try to present them to you fairly. Remember that it is 
the chief ruler of a great people, after a great civil war, whom 
you are about to select. The abilities which we seek are those 
of a great governor ; not those of an artist, a poet or man of 
letters ; men of science, writers, orators and literary men, from 
Cicero to Lamartine, have always failed as rulers of the State. 
No man of sense believes that Juvenal, Raphael, Shakespeare, 
Milton, Newton or La Place could ever have governed the na J 
tions whose history they adorned ; whereas, Julius Caesar, 
Charlemagne, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, William of 
Orange, and more than all, the great Cromwell, were able rulers, 
each of whom was first a great soldier, and then a statesman 
of imperishable fame. Come down in history to our own coun- 
try. Our first great ruler was the immortal Washington, the 
great Captain of his age. 

The next marked ruler was Gen. Jackson, whose military 
fame preceded his civil reputation. The greatest rulers in 
every age have been the greatest soldiers of their time. Painters, 



15 

sculptors, scholars, writers and journalists of other men's deeds, 
have always failed at the helm of State. They have not that 
combination of faculties and of will which the position re- 
quires. Upon this subject the instincts of mankind have gen- 
erally guided them aright. Horace Greeley is a man of eminent 
abilities, but as unsuited to the Presidential office as was the 
poet Horace for an Emperor of Rome. It is one of the weak- 
nesses of our people, to imagine for the moment, that the man 
who has achieved great success in anything, is fitted for the 
Presidency ; and hence we have had successful steamboat men, 
express men, railroad men, telegraph men, explorers, path- 
finders, writers and journalists talked of as candidates for the 
chief executive office. 

Rosa Bonheur can paint a horse better than any living artist, 
but she can't shoe one. 

I would not detract from Mr. Greeley's justly-earned repu- 
tation — he has immense industry and a powerful pen which he 
has always used on the side of humanity. He is a true hater 
of oppression and of privileged class — very placable and of 
kindly nature. In money matters, honest ; in politics, more 
far-sighted than is generally supposed, and shrewd even to 
cunning ; with large love of approbation, the spring of his 
great ambition. Able as a journalist, vigorous as a writer, and 
always in sympathy with liberal principals ; he never keeps an 
even course, and often startles' his friends by crotchets the 
more dangerous because sincere. He is liable to influences of 
whose evil he is not conscious. His best friends would never 
select him to lead an army, to preside over a turbulent as- 
sembly, to control a bank or run a railroad. He has never 
shown any of the qualities of a great leader, and we have no 
right to suppose that he can now make an able ruler over a 
great nation. A noted letter, which Mr. Greeley has been 
careful to republish, written to Gov. Seward when he quar- 
reled with the Governor and Thurlow Weed, will throw light 
upon the temper, the ambition and real character of this Lib- 
eral candidate for the Presidency. We read from it as fol- 
lows : 

"You were Governor, dispensing patronage worth $3,000 to 
00 J per year to your friends and compatriots, and I return- 
ed to my garret and my crust. I believe it did not then occur 



16 

to me that some one of these abundant places might have been offer- 
ed to me without injustice; I now think it should have occurred 
to you. 

" In the Harrison campaign of 1840, 1 was again designated 
to edit a campaign paper. I published it as well, and ought to 
have made something by it, in spite of its extremely low price ; 
my extreme poverty was the main reason why I did not. * 

" Now came the great scramble of the swell-mob of coon-min- 
strels and cider-suckers at Washington — I not being counted in. 
Several regiments of them went on from this City, but no one 
of the whole crowd — though I say it, who should not — had 
done so much toward Gen. Harrison's nomination and election 
as yours respectfully. I asked nothing, expected nothing ; but 
you, Gov. Seward, ought to have asked that I be Postmaster of 
New York? * * * * 

"But this last Spring, after the Nebraska question had created 
;i new state of things at the North, one or two personal friends, 
of no political consideration, suggested my name as a candidate 
for Governor, and I did not discourage them. * 

" I suspect it is true that I could not have been elected Govern- 
or as a Whig. But had he and you been favorable, there 
wouldln.&Ye been a party in the State, ere this, which could and 
would have elected me to any post, without injuring myself or 
endangering your re-election. * 

"I should have hated to serve as Lieutenant-Governor, but I 
should have gloried in running for the post. I want to have 
my enemies all upon me at once — I am tired of fighting them 
piecemeal. And, although I should have been beaten in the 
canvass, I know that my running would have helped the ticket 

and HELPED MY PAPER." * * * * 

Are these the breathings of a lofty patriotism, or do you dis- 
fcmguish the vengeful odor of a bitterly disappointed" personal 
ambition ? 

When Richard, the usurping king, asked his trusted page 
whom he could call to aid in his most wicked and ambitious 
scheme against the safety of the State, the page replied: "I 
know a discontented gentleman, whose humble means match 
not his haughty mind." 

Gen. Grant, for the public, never talks or writes or speaks ; 
he is inarticulate — silent. He does not impress men generally. 
He seems inert, and in mixed society draws into his shell. To 
this nation of ceaseless talkers he seems a kind of Sphynx. 
But he has done some things. He is younger than Horace 
Greeley by more than eleven years ; he has done things for 



17 

this people which Horace Greeley could not do — which no other 
man could do. 

The danger is over now, and almost forgot ; but there was a 
time, a gloomy time, when this nation's life was in peril ; when 
ten thousand Horace Greelyes could not save it, and Gen. Grant 
did. We tried many other Generals, all well placed in the 
social scale, supported by all the upper influences in the land ; 
all failed. An obscure man from Galena, poor, of no repu- 
tation or family influence, led the Union armies from victory to 
victory, and never failed ; and when the sword of Lee was sur- 
renderd to his younger victor, the nation offered up heartfelt 
thanksgivings to God, and Grant was almost worshiped as the 
savior of our liberties ! Are you going to crucify him now ? 
Why, what evil hath he done ? My brave and honest country- 
men, you do not mean to be unjust. Gen. Grant don't seek 
this office. He never did seek it. He don't want to be driven 
from it in disgrace by the enemies of the country which his 
brave comrades died to save. Let us look over the record of 
the past four years, and see what evil he hath done. You 
called this soldier, forty-six years old, to take the helm of State 
in the perplexing troubled days which followed a great civil 
war. Four millions of ignorant slaves had been freed, a power- 
ful confederation of States in war had been subdued by arms. 
Wholly unused to public affairs and to political tricks, this in- 
experienced man was placed in the Presidential chair. Did you 
deem him so far from human that he could make no blunders ? 
and is that his crime that you thought him so perfect that 
you pardon no mistake ? I read his modest words in accepting 
the re-nomination : 

" If elected in November, and protected by a kind Providence 
in health and strength to perform the duties of the high trust 
conferred, I promise the same zeal and devotion to the good of 
the whole people for the future of my official life as shown in 
the past. Past expeilence may guide me in avoiding mistakes 
inevitable with novices in all professions and in all occupa- 
tions." 

Modest, as he is always modest. I have known him since 
long before the surrender of Lee, and never did I hear him tell 
of any of his victories ; never heard him even allude to them ; 



18 

never heard him utter a word that would indicate that he had 
achieved anything. Who ever heard of a boast or vain word 
from his quiet lips ? All who know him will bear witness to 
the same unpretentious, simple ways of this remarkable man. 

Can you tell me why this great effort to drive him from the 
office which he has so worthily filled ? I think I can tell. 

General Grant had proved himself so great a man that the 
nation expected too much— more than was reasonable ; they 
expected 2xrfection, and would tolerate nothing less in their idol : 
and, true to our English blood, we began to think that he had 
been overpraised— a crime which the Anglo-Saxon race never 
allows to go unpunished. In a republic, where office is open to 
all, each office had a thousand aspirants. Each office filled 
made many enemies and sometimes an ingrate. The vanity 
and pretension of official aspirants is amazing. Grant had no 
skill to flatter, and no wish to excite false hopes. When all the 
offices were filled the disappointed became sour, and talked 
about patriotism, and hinted at the incapacity and possible 
corruption of the Executive. Many concealed their grief, 
hoping that something might turn up, until the Presidential 
term was drawing to its close, and the time came for new com- 
binations through which new hopes were excited in the thou- 
sands of expectants for place ; and in looking about they saw 
better chances in a new deal, and hence the noisy outs, vastly 
outnumbering the quiet ins, got up a din to drown every voice 
which tried to speak in refutation of the foul slanders with 
which the President was as'sailed. Many were restless and 
wanted a change for the sake of change, thinking little of what 
a change might involve. Some honest people were made to 
believe that the President was growing rich, while every well- 
informed person knew that his income did not meet his neces- 
sary expenses. Jealousy of his position ; jealousy which plays 
so vile a part in public affairs, came in, and vague distrust, fo- 
mented by envy and disappointment, and rebel hate of him 
who crushed their treason, all joined in general plan to oust 
the President from his seat, and out of the grand jumble came 
a result, unexpected, unwished, and which amazed every leader 
of the movement, and for a time paralyzed their action. They 
had sown the wind, they did not expect the whirlwind would 



19 

force Horace Greely upon them ; and when the clouds cleared 
away and they saw that ghost appear, they stared aghast, like the 
murderous Thane at the ghost of Banquo ! 

The great God has his own mysterious way to bring about 
results ; through fiery trials He sends all men destined for ex- 
alted deeds. Grant is as sure to be the next President as is 
the continued motion of the planetary spheres, and the terrible 
ordeal through which he is to pass presages great events in the 
next five years. When the people have seen him walk through 
the fires and come out with his mantle unsinged they will re- 
proach themselves for the cruelties which they have allowed 
him to suffer ; but he will be purified and strengthened for the 
great work which lies before him. 

Alex. H. Stephens, by far the most philosophic and appre- 
ciative intellect in the Southern States, has recorded, in an 
elaborate history of the war, his opinion of General Grant. Mr. 
Stephens says : 

" I was instantly struck with the great simplicity and per- 
fect naturalness of his manners, and the entire absence of 
everything like affectation, show, or even the usual military air 
or mien of men in his position. He was plainly attired, sitting 
in a log-cabin, busily writing on a small table by a kerosene- 
lamp. It was night when we arrived. There was nothing in 
his appearance or surroundings which indicated his official 
rank. There were neither guards nor aids about him. Upon 
Colonel Babcock's rapping at his door, the response ' Come in' 
was given by himself in a tone of voice and with a cadence 
which I can never forget. 

"His conversation was easy and fluent,without the least effort 
or restraint. In this nothing was so closely noticed by me as 
the point and terseness with which he expressed whatever he 
said. He did not seem either to court or avoid conversation, 
but, whenever he did speak, what he said was to the point, 
and covered the whole matter in a few w^ords. I saw before 
being with him long that he was exceedingly quick in percep- 
tion and direct in purpose, with a vast deal more of brains than 
tongue, as ready as that was at his command. 

" We were here with General Grant two days. 
He furnished us with comfortable quarters on board one of his 
dispatch-boats. The more I became acquainted with him the 
more I became thoroughly impressed with the very extraordi- 
nary combination of rare elements of character which he ex- 
hibited. During the time he met us frequently and conversed 

3 



20 

freely upon various subjects, not much upon our mission. I 
saw, however, very clearly, that he was very anxious for the 
proposed conference to take place, and, from all that was said, 
I inferred — whether correctly or not I do not know^ — that he 
was fully apprised of its proposed object. 

" Upon the whole, the result of this first acquaintance with 
General Grant, beginning with our going to and ending with 
our return from Hampton Roads, w T as the conviction on my 
mind that, taken all in all, he was one of the most remarkable 
men I had ever met with, and that his career in life, if his 
days should be prolonged,was hardly entered upon; that his char- 
acter was not yet fully developed ; that he himself was not 
aware of his own power, and that, if he lived, he would in the 
future exert a controlling influence in shaping the destinies of 
this country, either for good or evil. Which it would be, time 
and circumstances alone could disclose. That was the opinion 
of him then formed, and it is the same which has been uni- 
formly expressed by me ever since." 

The career of Grant has been a marvel from the beginning — 
not to be explained upon the ordinary principles of judging 
men. With reverent voice, I say that I believe he is raised up 
by Providence for greater deeds than he has yet performed. 
I find nothing in history which he resembles except the great 
Cromwell, and I find no such self-poised head as his since 
Cromwell died. I am an earnest advocate for the re-election 
of Gen. Grant because I believe in him — because I think it, un- 
der the circumstances, the only safety for the country. I am 
not an office-holder, and, as we are talking rather confidentially 
to-night, I will tell you that I do not intend to be. I have 
taken the full measure of that matter. I intend to remain your 
fellow-citizen with unsealed lips, free to criticize any man who 
holds the people's trust and to denounce any man who be- 
trays it. 

I have given some study to the system of our government, 
and tried to learn the source of its power and its real dangers. 
It differs radically from all others. No feudal seed was ever 
planted in our soil, and the feeble attempts to engraft feudal 
scions on our stock failed, as they will always fail. No rev- 
erence for great families or historic names has any hold here. 
In theory and in fact the power lies down in the hearts of the 
people, and their will gets expressed through public opinion, 
from which there is no appeal. Office, being open to all, until 



21 

within a few years, was generally sought for the advancement 
of social position, to gratify personal pride and love of eminent 
consideration for public service, or to perform a useful duty to 
the State. As wealth increased and corrupting luxury came in, 
bad, cunning men discovered that they could use official trusts 
to steal the earnings of the people under the cover of deceiving 
laws ; and the cheated citizens were made to believe that the 
fraudulent taxes all came out of the rich ; though they were 
puzzled to see how it was that the rich grew richer and the poor 
poorer, while no taxes were levied upon the poor. They are 
just now beginning to learn that all taxes really come out of the 
labor and industry of the people, and that the idea that capital 
pays the taxes is a covert fraud — the great cost of rent which 
the laboring poor and the industrious mechanic or clerk has to 
pay is chiefly caused by the fraudulent tax which the tenement 
pays. 

No honest men but the rich can ever grow rich in a govern- 
ment where your officials are robbers and levy taxes for plunder. 
If we cannot preserve our government from official corruption 
our liberties are near their end. Come up and face this ques- 
tion, fellow-citizens ; do you believe that the election of Horace 
Greeley will work reform ? Do you not know that his election 
will throw a pall over every cheerful hope of rescuing our city 
and State from robbers ? Do you not know that the thieves 
will run under his skirts for shelter, and tell him that they are 
sorry, and " eager to clasp hands across the bloody chasm," 
and only want to be let alone, until they can work back through 
plausible device into their former places. 

Reformers, you know very well that the election of Horace 
Greeley does not mean reform. You cannot face an honest 
audience and tell them tha L J you think so. If you do they will 
not believe you. A desire for reform swept this State like a 
whirlwind last Autumn, and it will do it again. I know that 
we shall have reform or despotism. I do not believe that the 
election of Horace Greeley tends to reform, but to confusion 
and anarchy ; and you all know what follows anarchy. I shall 
do what E can to elect Gen. Grant, and then I shall do what I 
can to aid in placing able and honest men around him, and if 
he proves recreant to his trust and corrupted by continued 



22 

power, uses his great office for unholy purposes, I will be free 
and as earnest arid as public in denunciation as I am now in my 
advocacy. I have chosen my path in life, and I intend to walk 
in it, fearless of thieves and scoundrels, and bad men in high 
places. Life has no value without liberty, and where you dare 
not speak the truth, there is no liberty. 

Mr. Greeley very fairly said that Gen. Grant had made a 
better President than he had expected, and that he would do 
better the second time than the first. I 'shall not be found 
abusing Mr. Greeley ; I venerate the much good he has done ; 
in a few short weeks no living man will excite so much of our 
condolence. The dishonest men who have been deluding him, 
cheating him, will desert him, revile him, and with lusty oaths 
declare that they never knew him ; swear that it was all a joke, 
that they never expected to elect him, and that the whole fan- 
tastic trick was a juggling fraud. The discussion of this ques- 
tion, and the universal intelligence circulated through the 
priceless services of the Press, have awakened the people. 
They begin to see how unjustly the President has been slan- 
dered, how difficult has been his task, and how well, upon the 
whole, he has performed it. Men of business, men of substance, 
men of families whom you love, come face to face with this 
question, and you will shudder at the peril which 3-011 have 
escaped. I know that you will not support this nomination, 
conceived in fraud, against the peace and prosperity of your 
country. You will vote for Gen. Grant, and thank God that the 
good sense of the people tells them how wiser it is to " let well 
enough alone," " to bear the little ills we have than fly to 
others that we know not of." Security, confidence, develop- 
ment and unexampled prosperity will surely follow the election 
of Grant. 

No one who has had opportunity can fail to notice how care- 
fully the bankers, merchants and business men of other 
countries watch our political action. They care nothing for 
our candidates, but only regard the matter as afTecting our 
credit and the safety of our bonds. Men of business in 
Europe cannot believe it possible that a sober nation like ours 
is going to upset its policy, radically change its Administra- 
tion — disturb all, just as it is beginning to be settled, and 



23 

thus discredit arid drive back our securities, stop all "negotia- 
tions, and put an end to the vast enterprises now starting to 
develop and enrich our country. The answer to these appre- 
hensions is : The people are not going to do it. Every man I 
meet, Democrat or Republican, makes some halting excuse 
when ho says that he is for Greeley — talks about " the lesser of 
two evils," " the surroundings of Grant" and other apologetic 
trifles, showing that his heart is not in it, and that his con- 
science revolts at this violence to common sense. When the 
time comes to count the vote, the party will be amazed at the 
feeble show, and awake to the fact that a straight-out Demo- 
crat would have polled a much larger vote. And the sagacious 
World will point to its issues of last spring and justly say : 
" I told you so." 

A word about Gen. Grant's oppression of the South, and I 
have done. Last February I went through most of the South- 
ern States and tried to learn their real condition. They were not 
very prosperous — they were nearly all for Greeley, even then ; I 
mean the rebel whites, not the loyal blacks. Since the war 
the South has suffered a good deal from bad government — no 
doubt of that — but much of it was incident to the situation, 
and more was due to their own sullen pride and obstinate will. 
Had they frankly accepted the inevitable, and returned to their 
allegiance, and honestly tried to aid the Government in re- 
construction, they would have suffered little from misrule ; the 
victorious North would have been over-generous to the fallen 
foe. and would have readily removed every disability. I 
sincerely believe that, before another year has passed, the 
South itself will rejoice in the re-election of Gen. Grant. And 
now, when we are at peace with all the world, when our pros- 
perity is great and our industries are fast reviving, we are 
asked to make a change, to try something new, " to clasp our 
eager hands across the bloody chasm" (the South has shown 
no haste to shake hands). Govern justly, generously ; protect 
the freedman in his rights ; but do not, in blind fatuity, sur- 
render the very ark of }-our liberties to those, who in peace, 
were so faithless, who in war could perpetrate or permit the 
inhuman cruelties of Andersonville and the Libby. 



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